We live in the most connected age in human history. Today, you could pick up your smartphone, enter in a few digits and speak to someone on the other side of the world. You could send them a text and receive a response within seconds. Increasing amounts of sensitive data are being stored on electronic devices, whether it’s your health information on computers or your browsing activity on your phone.

 It stands to reason then, that data protection is more important than ever.

But how do you keep your data safe? Let’s be honest; most people aren’t tech-savvy enough to understand the lingo and nuances of data protection. In fact, this is the very reason some individuals refuse to move with the times and keep as many areas of their lives analog.

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The solution to the issue of data privacy isn’t avoiding technology altogether; it’s learning how to protect your data. This article will go over a few strategies you can implement to secure your data and how a US proxy can help.

How can a US proxy help me secure my data?

A US proxy can help conceal your identity online. When you surf the internet, the IP address of your device is shared with the servers of the sites that it connects to. IP addresses are the equivalent of your home address; they’re unique to your device and can be used to identify you. If that isn’t enough reason for you to look into proxies, know this: it’s possible to narrow down your location using an IP address.

This is where Smartproxy comes in. Not only it hides your IP address but also provides you with over 40 million IP addresses from around the world to choose from. You can either choose to stick with one for up to thirty minutes or have your IP address change with each new connection request you make, ensuring you’re truly anonymous.

What can you do to protect your privacy online?

Aside from hiding your location and IP address using a proxy, here are a few tips you can use:

1. Use secure passwords and don’t reuse them on multiple sites. Think of it this way, when a hacker breaks into one of your accounts, would you want all of your other accounts to be compromised as well? If you have trouble remembering multiple passwords, consider investing in a password manager which syncs your passwords across your devices.

2. Keep your data backed up. If you’re worried you might forget to back up your data, automate a backup or set a regular schedule for it. Mac computers have a feature called Time Machine, which performs hourly backups of your data as long as your mac is connected to power and an external drive.

3. Ensure all your devices have anti-virus software. This is a must-have in 2021. Regardless of what device you’re using, exploits are being released almost every other day. This is why it’s essential to use good anti-virus software. The software will update itself regularly to keep up with the latest threats.

4. Keep your operating systems up to date. This might seem like an obvious one, but very few people keep their software updated. Your device manufacturer knows its vulnerabilities the best and pushes out the solution in a software update.

5. Enable remote wiping. If the worst happens and your device is stolen, you can rest easy knowing you can still control who has access to your data. With remote wiping, you can delete any sensitive files you have on your computer or smartphone, even if it’s in a different location.

6. Avoid connecting to unsecured public networks. Public Wi-Fi is a breeding ground for hackers and other nefarious characters, waiting to steal your information as soon as you connect to their network. It’s not a matter of how reputable the Wi-Fi is –Starbucks Wi-Fi can be hacked. To play safe, avoid using public Wi-Fi, no matter how tempting it might seem.

Facial recognition and AI are becoming commonplace – ask people in China.

At this point, you probably don’t believe facial recognition is being used widely. Sure, it exists at airport customs, but it’s not being used to track your every move like in science fiction novels, right?

While we don’t know the specifics of what the data is being used for, we can get some hints of what the future holds by looking at China.

China uses AI and facial recognition heavily to track the Uighur people. At around 11 million, the Uighur population is predominantly Muslim, and China seeks to actively track and control them. They do so by installing hundreds of cameras around critical areas like mosques.

China also requires people to provide identification to do almost anything. Examples include going to the marketplace or entering a building. They then use this data to build a map of people’s whereabouts and compare the data they’ve collected with their facial recognition cameras to identify the Uighur people. As they collect this information on a large scale, they begin to form relationship maps to better understand who their citizens are related.

If you think these technologies are only being used in totalitarian countries like China, you might be surprised to learn that these same technologies are increasing in popularity in Western countries as well.

This New York Times article reported that roughly 600 law enforcement agencies from both the United States and Canada subscribed to a facial recognition software called Clearview AI. Once a photo has been uploaded to the software, it’s run against a database of over three billion images, curated from the likes of YouTube and Facebook. One saving grace is that it’s allegedly only 75% accurate, so all hope isn’t lost.

Still, you should be in the know of these things. Changes are happening in the world, and it’s up to us to make a change.

Conclusion

Proper data protection is still attainable; you’ll just need to put in the work to get it. While the tips in this article will fare you well in your journey to greater privacy, bear in mind that the complete privacy we used to enjoy 30 years ago just isn’t available anymore. We live in cities with CCTV cameras mounted on every street corner. Our own phones listen to every word we say and have been trained to recognize our faces. If you’re really passionate about staying completely anonymous, you might have to invest in a good baseball cap, a hoodie, and facial reconstruction surgery to avoid being tracked at all times.